Over 2 million emails are sent every second of the day, often with important files, documents and letters attached to them. These email attachments are open to cyber attacks, often not traceable and regularly left unopened. And, with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) now in force, questions are being raised about transmitting data in this way and the risk this may place on your company’s duty to protect personal data.
These aren’t risks worth taking.
Here are our key reasons why you should think again about sending email attachments.
1. Uncontrollable attachments
The moment you hit send on an email, you’ve lost control of it and anything attached to it, for good. Documents can be downloaded, copied, shared and downloaded again forever more; an even bigger problem if your communication somehow finds itself sitting in the wrong inbox.
2. Security, or should we say ‘lack of’
There’s no denying it, emails aren’t secure enough to be including sensitive, possibly confidential information in their attachments. They’re vulnerable and you could be left liable for failing to comply with the GDPR. The ICO reported a 46% increase in data breaches related to emails. Do you really want to be part of that statistic?
3. ‘Did you get my email?’
Sound familiar? Delayed, blocked, sent to spam or junk folders or simply left unopened and unread – it’s not always possible to know if your email has been opened, if your attachment has been seen, and who’s got their hands on it in the first place. If what you’re sending is important, and needs to be seen, it’s vital that you know if and when it’s been opened. A 27% increase has also been reported in data sent by email to the wrong person: accidents happen but undoubtedly have consequences.
4. Large files can’t always be delivered
It’s no secret that many servers have limits on file sizes: if a file is too large, it won’t be delivered. This is easily avoidable if you’re aware of the size limit placed on your company’s server, but it’s highly possible that the recipient of your email may have a much smaller limit, and will be left none the wiser of your important document that was blocked by their automatic systems.
The alternative to sending email attachments
Email attachments may seem like a simple, harmless option when communicating information, but we hope we’ve highlighted this isn’t the case.
The risks aren’t worth taking which is why we’ve invested in developing our secure alternative to sending email attachments. Learn more about Aceni here.
